Normally, it is much better to leave the mare and foal on their own together for their first week or so together. At Longmeadow, we put new mares and foals in a stall in the quiet corner of the barn and interact with them as little as possible. It gives mom and baby important time to adjust to each other without human intervention. We do start working with the foals with haltering and leading alongside mom at about 2 week of age so they get used to it. But we always turn them out together alone too - they both need to get used to how to interact without human interference. I always did the same things when I raised horses for about 15 years.

Some are timid and some are bold and brave. That's another reason to limit the human interference at such an early stage. They need to learn to explore on their own and run back to mom for assurance. It's actually very important to early development of their personalities.

I'm sure they have good reasons for so much human presence at this early stage though.

We had a horse when I was little and my dad was in a horse riding club so we hung around them quite often and I remember what you are saying Drac. That is why I was wondering why he is getting so much attention and not allowed to be free with his mom. Thanks for the info.

The mom and the foal are in a barn by themselves. I guess there a different views on handling new borns. The first night I was there I was helping getting the foal up and finding how to get his milk.....they spend most of their time together alone...but over here they feel you need to touch the foal so they get used to human touch . We keep them away from the others. One cause mom doesn't want them around the others and two you are never sure how the others are going to react.

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Would that I could be the peacemaker in your soul that I might turn the discord and the rivalry of your elements into oneness and melody Gibran